-28-

49 of 54 comparisons the scorched leaves contained the
highest levels of radioactivity.

The chi-square test shows

that this difference is highly significant.

Since the

scorched leaves were unable to absorb nutrients by metabolic means they must have accumulated the radioactive
material by physical adsorption.

A Similar test showed

that the internal portion of the stem contained the lowest
amounts of beta radioactivity,

which is not surprising,

because the internal portion of the stem is the only tissue sampled in which there would be no
nation.

surface contami-

No marked differences in levels of radioactivity

were noted among the other six tissues,
Comparisons of the relative amounts of beta radioactivity among the tissues of plant species collected at

(Table 4)

Belle Island

trate growth habit,
Boerhaavia,
grass

showed that the plants with a pros-

such as that found in Triumfetta and

and the forms with limited growth,

(Lepturus)

and the purslane

(Portulaca),

such as the
contained

higher levels of radioactivity than the plants with a taller
growth habit,

such as Scaevola and Messerschmidia.

With increased time after the Nectar test the levels
of radioactivity of the different plant parts declined

at

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